Flexible fabric containers have a wide ranging application for the collection and distribution of a variety of objects, including materials excavated from street and utility construction, and the transloading of, for example, fish, fruits, and vegetables.
The prior art has attempted to meet these needs by a variety of containers, some of them flexible, others mounted on, or within, rigid frames.
In particular, because containers made of flexible materials--to conform the shape of the container to the particular materials loaded therein and to allow transport of unloaded containers in a compact manner--virtually always require either a permanent, or temporary, frame to serve as a device for maintaining an open top end into which the desired materials may be loaded. Thus, a container which has a permanent framework attached thereto is more expensive to construct, and a container which has a temporarily inserted frame--which must subsequently be removed--involves additional work and expense and slows the loading rate.
Accordingly, it is a primary object of this invention to provide a generally flexible fabric container which is self-standing, i.e. requires no frame, either permanent or temporary.
Those containers of the prior art which also need to have a bottom discharge capability, have achieved such a capability by allowing for an openable bottom, with the release mechanism consisting of simple strings or a variety of other devices. The chief disadvantage of the release devices of the prior art is either that they did not work reliably, or were not safe (because they could be discharged inadvertently when the loaded container was lifted to be transported to another location).
Accordingly, it is another primary object of this invention to provide a flexible fabric, container with a bottom discharge release mechanism that is failsafe under load, and which is reliable once the container has been safely lowered to ground level for discharge of its contents.